Actinic cheilitis: histopathological evaluation of 44 cases

Objective:To describe the epidemiological, clinical and histopathological aspects in actinic cheilitis.Material and method:We conducted a retrospective study from cases with clinical diagnosis of actinic cheilitis recorded in the histopathology of the Service of Head and Neck Napoleon Laureano Hospital, Paraíba, from 2000 to 2007. We selected 44 paraffin blocks to product new slides. These new sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and histopathological evaluation was performed by two independent examiners, and the changes classified according to OMS. We conducted a descriptive statistical analysis in SPSS for Windows version 13.Result:Of the total sample, 52.3% (23) cases were diagnosed in men and 47.7% (21) in women aged from 27 to 92 years old. Most individuals (81.9%) were over 40 years old. Regarding the histologic features, 68.2% (30) of cases showed some degree of epithelial dysplasia, 36.3% (16) classified as mild dysplasia, 20.4% (9) moderate dysplasia and 11.3% (5) severe dysplasia. In 15.9% (7) cases, squamous cell carcinoma of lip was observed. In epithelial tissue lining lips, the most frequent histologic findings identified were the presence of hydropic degeneration (79.5%) and hypergranulosis (56.8%). Inflammatory infiltrate was observed in 88.6% of cases and 86.4% in solar elastosis.Conclusion:Based on the results of the sample we can conclude that most of the actinic cheilitis lesions fastened lower lip of men over 40 years old. Histopathological analysis revealed that cellular atypia, inflammatory infiltrate and presence of solar elastosis are common features in actinic cheilitis lesions.